Last weekends series of live concerts broadcast on MSNBC and Bravo were meant to increase awareness of the Global Warming crisis and encourage viewers to make changes in their lives to personally help reduce C02 pollution. Watching the concerts though, one could not help but notice that these demands were coming from a certain political persuasion. Viewers were encouraged to sign a pledge whose first order of business is quite telling in understanding the agenda, it states, “to demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth”. The most important thing is not necessarily to make a personal change but to get involved politically, and insist the government acquiesce to our demands. This appears to certainly be more about politics than saving the earth.
The current administration has become the whipping boy for those involved in this movement, blaming them for failing to take the necessary action needed to thwart the coming of this global catastrophe. A Google search will reveal no shortage of criticisms from plenty of sources on the president’s policies on Global warming. One of the more outrageous blogs written by Jesse Lava and posted at Faithful Democrats.com cites a World Health Organization study that attributes the death of 77,000 people in Asia to the effects of Global Warming. Amazingly, after citing that George Bush has not kept some promises on reducing carbon emissions he states, “The blood of those 77,000 people a year is therefore on Bush’s hands”. He does not blame Chinese President Hu Jintao, nor India’s Manmohan Singh who rule ambitious industrial nations within the same hemisphere, but George W. Bush, the president of a country on the other side of the world.
To assume that we know the causes for the temperature increases is arrogant enough but to put a name to the cause is foolishly audacious. Our planet has always had shifting temperatures, rising and falling at different times in the past and for vastly different reasons than what it is attributed to today. The fact that there is not a consensus among scientists should elicit some caution in those presuming to know the cause. Sadly, it hasn’t, stadiums and artists have been booked to tell us all why, and what we can do to cure it.
Have we erred in understanding God’s command to have dominion over His creation to the extent that we creatures now threaten His world? God has said concerning man, “let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Gen 1:26. God also said “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Gen 1:28. Burning fossil fuels for energy seems to be in line with these commands God has given man. We have taken what God has provided and put it to use for the benefit of all. One would have to argue that we have perverted the dominion command and are violating what God’s intention is for the handling of these natural resources. One problem for this position is that burning oil for energy is referenced many times in scripture and is a blessing and has not been legislated against by God.
Another problem for this position deals with the sovereignty of God over His creation. As 2 Peter 3:5-7 says, “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same Word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The Word is preserving not only the earth but the heavens as well. God creates the world and He destroys it. Jesus is the author of the climate on this planet and it definitely is in crisis,” for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” Romans 8:22. The problem is not the exhaust of my car but the rebellion of man towards His creator, and until all men bow their knee to their king the creation and all of its inhabitants will suffer.
If Christ by His will has determined to increase the temperature on the planet, then it cannot be thwarted. No amount of carpooling, concerts, treaties or demolishing of smokestacks will frustrate His desires. Those who think they understand the comings and goings of the winds and the clouds in the atmosphere are indeed experts in hot air. Perhaps they can prepare themselves like men and answer some ancient questions.
“ Where were you when God laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb; When God made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; When God fixed His limit for it,
And set bars and doors; When God said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!’ “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the upraised arm is broken. “Have you entered the springs of the sea?
Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. “ Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, That you may take it to its territory,
That you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, Or because the number of your days is great? “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, Which God has reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth? “Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt, To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man; To satisfy the desolate waste,
And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone,
And the surface of the deep is frozen “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth[a] in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, And say to you, ‘Here we are!’? Who has put wisdom in the mind?[b]
Or who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven?
Before you answer though, let me give you a hint, a godly man a long time ago was questioned by God just like this, his answer to God should be the same as yours, “Behold, I am vile;
What shall I answer You?
I clasp my hand over my mouth.”
